South Dakota Investment Council Grows Position in Lamb Weston $LW

South Dakota Investment Council raised its holdings in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 12.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 95,981 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,000 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.07% of Lamb Weston worth $4,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lamb Weston in the 4th quarter valued at about $125,662,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 45,177.0% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,835,245 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $118,768,000 after buying an additional 2,828,983 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Lamb Weston by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,824,690 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $411,558,000 after buying an additional 2,111,874 shares in the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Lamb Weston during the second quarter worth about $84,379,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Lamb Weston by 350.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,451,954 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $61,360,000 after buying an additional 1,129,918 shares in the last quarter. 89.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lamb Weston from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens lifted their price objective on Lamb Weston from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Lamb Weston from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on Lamb Weston from $48.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.36.

Lamb Weston Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Lamb Weston stock opened at $53.63 on Friday. Lamb Weston has a fifty-two week low of $37.62 and a fifty-two week high of $67.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.47.

Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Lamb Weston had a return on equity of 23.33% and a net margin of 4.39%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Lamb Weston has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.950-3.250 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Lamb Weston will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamb Weston Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Lamb Weston’s payout ratio is 73.08%.

Lamb Weston Company Profile

Lamb Weston, traded on the NYSE under the symbol LW, is a leading global processor and supplier of frozen potato products. The company’s portfolio includes a variety of potato-based items such as French fries, potato wedges, hash browns and specialty cuts tailored to the foodservice and retail grocery channels. Lamb Weston serves quick-service restaurants, full-service operators, grocery chains and food distributors, offering customized product formats, packaging solutions and seasoning options to meet evolving customer demands.

Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Eagle, Idaho, Lamb Weston has grown from a regional processor into one of the world’s largest producers of frozen potato products.